Corvette Racing

The first Corvette to compete in the highly competitive American Le Mans GT2 class was honored in December with a display spot at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. Lou Gigliotti and his Black and Flames Corvette was a mainstay of the 2008/2009 ALMS seasons before the two factory Corvette C6.Rs shifted their focus from GT1 to GT2. Although outgunned financially by the factory race team, Lou put up a great fight as a privateer and in his final GT2 race at Petit Le Mans, his LG Motorsports #28 Corvette qualified second in class and faster than Corvette Racing’s C6.Rs.

Most of us have been holding out hope that Johnny O’Connell would still be part of the 2011 Corvette Racing team as a team driver for the three endurance races (Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans). Unfortuately, that doesn’t appear to be the case as Johnny posted this on facebook just a couple of ours ago:

Since everyone is asking… no I won’t be in the Corvette for the long races. But hey, I might still be there.

We’ve also heard that 2010′s endurance race driver Manny Collard may be driving a prototype next year which would then leave that seat open for Corvette Racing. Looks like Fehan and the team’s management have some decisions to make…

DETROIT, Dec. 14, 2010 – Johnny O’Connell will move from Corvette Racing to the new Team Cadillac motorsports program in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) World Challenge GT in 2011. After 10 successful seasons in Corvettes, O’Connell will join former Corvette Racing teammate Andy Pilgrim in a pair of Cadillac CTS-V Coupes as Cadillac returns to racing in the SCCA production-based series.

It appears that Oliver Gavin will have a couple of rides in 2011, assuming that he maintains his seat with Corvette Racing in the American Le Mans Series. Olly announced that he will be racing in the Grand Am/Rolex Series with Banner Racing’s Chevrolet Camaro. Gavin will share the No. 07 The Cool TV Camaro with Gunter Schaldach for the seven round series. Where the calendar conflicts with the ALMS, the C6.R driver expects ALMS races to take precedence.

A press release today by Cadillac seems to confirm that Johnny O’Connell has been reassigned from the Corvette Racing program to Cadillac’s SCCA World Challenge GT series. He will join former Corvette Racing driver Andy Pilgrim behind the wheel of a Pratt & Miller race-prepped Cadillac CTS-V Coupe. Cadillac will be fielding two CTS-V Coupes in the series which gets underway in St. Petersburg, Florida on March 25-27th. Speculation is alive and well that O’Connell may still drive Corvettes for the three endurance races: Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans. Cadillac’s full press release is after the jump.

One of the highlights of Wednesday night’s Test Drive: Corvette on SPEED was the segment where NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson gets behind the wheel of Corvette Racing’s C6.R. Jimmie is no stranger to Corvettes, but from his comments while pacing the road course behind a stock 2011 Corvette ZR1 with show host Tommy Kendall, he is blown away by power and grip of the factory race car.

The National Corvette Museum has released the names of the 2011 Corvette Hall of Fame Inductees. Corvette race car driver Ron Fellows, GM Designer Clare MacKichan and NCM Member #1 Ray Quinlan will join the likes of Zora Arkus-Duntov, Harley Earl and Dick Thompson in the Hall of Fame. Once inducted, their names will be hung in the rotunda of the Corvette Museum’s Spire in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

A persistent rumor has been burning up and down the internet this week. Murphy the Bear, that furry prognosticator of the ALMS says that longtime Corvette C6.R driver Johnny O’Connell is allegedly out of Corvette Racing for the 2011 season. His replacement is said to be former Rahal Letterman BMW driver Tommy Milner.

NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson, NFL star running back DeAngelo Williams and Corvette Racing’s Johnny O’Connell will get behind the wheel of various Corvette models for the premiere of SPEED’s original series Test Drive. Hosted by Tommy Kendall, the Corvette test drives will take place on the streets surrounding Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C and Carolina Motorsports Park (CMP) in Kershaw S.C. The show airs next Wednesday, December 8th at 10:30 pm EST so get those DVR’s set. For a bit of a preview, check out the advance photos we got from SPEED.

Charles D. Fowler, III: I stopped subsribing to both after many years, and within a year or two of even having a “feature” article accepted and published, after meeting Corvette Fever execs at Carlisle. With the merger, I...

Jeff McKay: I also asked a local dealer and they knew nothing about it. How do I order it myself? I think that would be faster than trying to convince them they should know about it.

CrystalKnight: I have always loved the 63, one of my favorite classics of all time, and I have had a many sports cars…, owned and loved the C5 even though it was heavy and underpowered, owned and loved the C6 convertible. ….I...

CrystalKnight: I have always loved the 63, one of my favorite classics of all time, and I have had a many sports cars…, owned and loved the C5 even though it was heavy and underpowered, owned and loved the C6 convertible. ….I...

tonyman262: I have an 89 C4 & an 07 C6, both white. After seeing the CUE system; the daughter may get the 07, I NEED a C7 with the CUE system. The 89 C4 stays with me. The C7 (artic white of course) could just end up being the new...